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Monday, 10 August 2015

Girls Generation: The Best

Hello

An nyoung

Konnichiwa

Ni hao

We've come to the final and up to date Girls Generation album for K-pop/J-pop Monday and it's time we spotlight what in the UK and other countries would call a greatest hits album, but this album known as The Best features their Japanese singles including 5 new and bonus tracks.

Released July 2014, The Best was released in three versions: a regular edition which just included a lyric booklet and the CD, Limited edition that came with the CD and lyric booklet and the bonus of a DVD with the MV'S and an on set photo booklet and the Complete limited pressing edition which I wish I'd ordered, it came with 2 CD'S, Blu-ray, interview booklet and it all came in an LP size box. I have the limited edition version that came with the DVD. Each CD had 14 tracks with 2 bonus tracks which was the Japanese version of Mr.Mr. and a brand new single showcasing the bond between the girls and their fans a song that came under scrutiny after events that happened 2 months later.The theme and layout of the album to me shows a mature and sophisticated look for the girls with them all in black and white outfits, even the colour scheme of the CD & DVD is black and white. My on set photobook was in the garden and shows the girls looking stunning in colourful and gorgeous outfits having fun together it definitely shows a different side to the black and white images.

Tracklist:

Genie

Gee

Run Devil Run

Mr.Taxi

Bad Girl

Time Machine

Paparazzi

Oh!

All My Love Is For You

Flower Power

Beep Beep

Love & Girls

Galaxy Supernova

My Oh My

Bonus Tracks:

Mr.Mr. Japanese Version

Indestructible

Group picture

YoonA

Jessica

Tiffany

SooYoung

TaeYeon

Sunny

YuRi

HyoYeon

SeoHyun

Song & album credits

SeoHyun

Sunny

L-R SeoHyun, TaeYeon & Sunny

L-R TaeYeon & Tiffany

TaeYeon

Tiffany

HyoYeon

L-R YoonA & HyoYeon

L-R SooYoung & Jessica

YoonA

YuRi

SooYoung

Jessica

Jessica

Tiffany

SeoHyun

Group shot

TaeYeon

YoonA

HyoYeon

Sunny

SooYoung

YuRi

L-R TaeYeon, YuRi & SooYoung

L-R YoonA, Tiffany & SeoHyun

L-R Sunny,Jessica & HyoYeon

Group picture

Group picture

Back of booklet

A majority of these songs have featured as my favourite songs in past posts with the album it was on so instead of the usual these are my favourite songs with the accompanying video I'm going to share my favourite live performances of those songs, but first let me share with you the thank you song from the girls to their fans.

Indestructible

Indestructible eng sub

Genie

Gee

The Boys

Mr.Taxi

Like many repackaged albums I have seen come out a few months after the original release it was a first for me to see it with a Japanese album and even though it was never advertised or promoted as a repackaged album you get the idea of what happened with this album two months later but before we get to that we first have to step into the events of September.

Growing up I was part of the Spice Girls era and they were my favourite group growing up and it broke my heart when it was announced that Geri had parted ways with the group (she was my favourite, my bias if you will) so being an adult I never thought something like that would affect me that way again.

September 30th 2014 I woke up to news that like many Sones felt like the floor had crumbled a way. Jessica had left the group, SM were stating that Jessica had agreed to one more album then she would be making her departure from the group to focus on her fashion company but the departure was brought forward because of schedules. On the opposite side Jessica was stating that she had been kicked out of the group by management and 8 other members. Nearly a year on there are people that say she was kicked out because the rest of the girls were jealous etc. In my honest opinion I do believe the rest of Girls Generation had a part to play in her exit but I also believe that if they did they did it for a reason to protect the group and their fans. Since her departure Jessica has been busy with her company and has even stated that she's happy now she no longer has activities with Girls Generation as she has more free time to do the things she's been doing which to me I would like to believe and think GG was thinking of this for Jessica.

Now let's get back to the music October saw the release of The Best New Edition which was a re release of their The Best album with 3 new songs where Indestructible was used for the release of The Best a ballad titled Divine was used for the release of The Best New Edition and the MV was Jessica's final MV with the group.

Divine

The New Edition came in two versions a regular version with just CD and booklet and the 2nd version was a limited edition version which came with booklet, CD and a bonus item which were 9 earphone jack figures. I pre ordered the limited edition version. The earphone Jacks show each member from a different MV from their Japan releases.

Back row L-R

Yuri: Flower Power, Sunny: Run Devil Run,

Yoona: Paparazzi, Seohyun: Oh! &

Hyoyeon: Galaxy Supernova.

Front row L-R

Jessica: Genie, Sooyoung: Love & Girls,

Taeyeon: Mr.Taxi & Tiffany: Gee

Sunny

The colour theme for this album was white with them mainly in denim making them pop out of the white background and set as you can see the only colour seemed to be the girls making them stand out.

Front of case

Back of case

Tracklist:

Genie

Gee

Mr.Taxi

Oh!

Run Devil Run

HOOT

The Boys

Paparazzi

Flower Power

Love & Girls

Galaxy Supernova

Mr.Mr.

Chain Reaction

Indestructible

DIVINE

Show Girls

YoonA

Jessica

HyoYeon

Sunny

TaeYeon

YuRi

SeoHyun

Tiffany

SooYoung

Song credits

Album credits

Back of booklet

I'm going to do the same as before and use live performances for the songs but four of these performances are after Jessica left as they performed at their Tokyo Dome concert December 2014.

Mr.Mr.

Chain Reaction

@

Tokyo Dome

Show Girls

@

Tokyo Dome

Indestructible

@

Tokyo Dome

Divine

@

Tokyo Dome

Jessica's vocals appear on all four of the Tokyo Dome songs in the original recorded songs but obviously Jessica was removed before they could hold their special anniversary concert there was also like at their 3rd Japan Tour (the lyric MV for Indestructible was released as a gift to fans) they were meant to release an MV for their last Japanese single Catch Me If You Can as a gift and thank you to their fans but due to Jessica's departure the MV and track was scrapped to be released later with vocals reworked and the MV re shot, I'll be posting about it in the future showcasing the new era of Girls Generation.

I think the only way to end this post is with an emotional goodbye to Jessica, it still breaks my heart and brings a tear to my eye watching and hearing this version but not only did the power of 9 debut something new with Into the New World but it only seems right that GG-8 would do a new version of the track and step together with us Into the New World as 8. What really touched me with this performance wasn't just the emotion shown by the girls but when it pans out there is a space and spotlight on where Jessica would have been stood before they close the gap.